An Italian with good sole

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Even though you have probably read about it somewhere else because the news spread out last January 21st I wanted to take notice of the event on soVIPzone. It was then when the city of Rome officially accepted Diego Della Valle's offer to fun the restoration of the Colosseum. The Italian mogul, chairman and CEO of the Tod's group, will face the cost of the works estimated at about 25million Euros. I was incredibly happy to hear this because as much as I loved Rome on my first visit I couldn't help wishing I could see things the way Marcus Aurelius saw them before the pollution and the stone robbers did their job halving the iconic piece. And I was even happier to hear that it was someone from the fashion industry who was responsible for it. Proving that we care about culture, art and heritage very deeply. The restoration is set to commence at the end of the year and it's estimated to take between two years and two years and a half (personally, I'd say 4), during which the Colosseum will remain open to the public. I honestly can't wait for the moment when I return to Rome and I find a picture similar to the one at the bottom.

I'm off.

ancient mode

Every Christmas I seem to find something very special in fragrance ads. They certainly don't do their job —I never even consider buying essence of this or eau of that— but I literally can't stop looking. I love the one for L'Eau Ambrée by Prada. The first time I saw it (the same happened with the SS09 print advert) I couldn't stop thinking about the frontons of the buildings in ancient Rome and Greece. I've always loved how artists managed to sculpt every figure in such detail that the most minute pleat and wrinkle weren't missed. And the whole group in the composition had the shape of an isosceles triangle so that it would fit in the top structure. Finally, I just looked at a few collections that took inspiration from the ancient Rome and Greece —be it from the art or otherwise.
[Picture credits: Style.com, Prada]

I'm off.